Looking Forward
by Wholesome Mugi
Summary: Hisao meets a cute girl in an Eyepatch with a pair of crutches.


_Note – This picks up from Katawa Shoujo's chapter 'It Builds Character'. It's best to start off reading that and then come back here. This story starts off from Hisao leaving the classroom and on his way to the Art room_

Chapter 1: The Girl in the Classroom

While I did say I was happy to help with the Student Council without actually joining, I keep getting the idea that all of this was a clever rouse to get me to join without me being fully aware of it. Misha and Shizune have been shown to be really keen on me joining. Not that I wouldn't mind joining, but I still need time to think about it. Still, the festival is coming up soon, and I still don't have anything to do for it, or anyone to hang around with. I could ask Kenji, if I can survive one conversation without hearing the words 'Feminist' or 'conspiracy'.

Walking down the halls, I see a bunch of rooms that seem large enough to be classrooms, but I'm not sure if any of these could be the Art room. The doors aren't labelled at all, not even with room numbers, which seems a bit odd to me. emWith a school like this, order would be a top priority/em, I thought to myself. I debate which door to open, as each one seems about as likely to be the Art room as the other room. I slightly rehearse what I would say before stepping in, and I choose the door on the left. Grasping the handle, I push forward.

"Excuse me, but could I-" My sentence was left unfinished, as I quickly saw inside the room. The room was laid bare, with only a few chairs and a couple of tables placed haphazardly. This wasn't the main thing that caught my attention, but rather it was what, or should I say who, was in the midst of what looked like uncontrolled chaos. There was a girl who appeared to have collapsed at the end of the room. She was leaning against a spare locker with her arms down by her side. I stepped through the door and hurried over to her. Not entirely sure on what to do, I decided to gently shake her. After all, she might have been asleep and didn't want to be disturbed, but she could have been in a state where she needed some assistance.

Shaking her lightly worked, as she slowly came to and looked up at me. She had silver hair that came down to her chest in long strands. She looked quite thin and slightly sickly with her pale skin. When she looked up at me, she only had one eye visible, with the other covered up by a white eyepatch. Her other eye was a slight greyish blue color. She was quite pretty overall.

"Are you alright?" I said, trying my best to be as quiet as possible, not knowing what kind of state she was in.

"I think so" the girl said at last. Her voice was sweet sounding, and very quiet. It reminded me of the way Hanako spoke the other day in the Library, only not as shy or nervous. She didn't seem very nervous or shy, just sounded like a quiet girl.

I got her to her feet, pulled a chair out and gently guided her down. She seemed to be very shaky, which I guessed was from some kind of fall. Knowing it was rude to ask, I decided against bringing it up

"Thank you so much. I came in here for some papers my teacher wanted, and I'm not sure what happened." the girl explained. Then, she asked me "I'm sorry, I'm getting carried away here. Who are you? I haven't seen you before around here. Are you new here?"

"I'm Nakai, I just transferred in on Monday" I replied. I sat down at the table across from her after pulling up a chair. I decided to stay with her until she seemed OK by herself. I knew I had to get the things on Misha's list, but this seemed much more important right now.

"I'm Ito. Pleased to meet you." She smiled brightly. It seemed cheerful enough, but I sensed a level of weakness behind it. I didn't ask about it. It's not my place, I've just met her. "What were you doing here? No one really comes up here any more, other than the art class."

"I was actually on my way to the Art Room actually. Mish- Er, Mikado from the Student Council gave me a list of things to find for the festival stalls, but I got a bit lost with the rooms. I opened this door to try and find someone to help me, and that's when I saw you on the floor, and here we are" I explained, while Ito sat and listened to me. She seemed to be a good listener.

She nodded. "Ah, so you know Misha? She's certainly an interesting character." She giggled as she said this.

"Yeah, I sit next to her and Shizune in class."

"So you must be in Mutou's class, right?"

"Yeah that's right". Ito seems pretty normal compared to everyone else I've met since Monday. We spend the next few minutes talking about ourselves. Nothing said about disabilities whatsoever, but rather about our classes and clubs. "Are you part of any club?" I asked

"I'm a part of the Literature club at the moment. It's my second session. I used to be a part of the student council, but left. A bunch of us left, and it's now just Misha and Shizune. I do feel a bit guilty for certain things, but they keep telling me it's fine and they have no problem"

We sat and talked for a bit longer, until Ito notices the time and gasps slightly.

"Is it that time already? I need to get back to class. You said you were looking for the Art Room? It's the room next door." She smiled again. She seemed to smile a lot.

I thank Ito for her help, and as I get up, I hear her again

"Um, could you help me find my crutches please? I must have dropped them when I fell down." She asked politely.

"Oh, sure, no problem." I looked all around the room, and found a pair of Crutches in the corner of the room.

I smiled and passed them to her. She slips her arms into them and struggles to get up. I extended my arm and she uses it to lift herself from her chair. She begins to walk to the door, which I open for her.

After she walks out, I follow her out and close the door gently behind her

"The Art Room is here." She points to the room opposite.

"Thanks Ito. Are you sure you're OK to go back by yourself?" I asked, concerned for her. It looked like a nasty fall, and I didn't want her to fall again.

"Yeah, I should be OK. You go and get the items on your list" She waved and made her way back to her class.

I stood outside the Art room, and was about to open the door when Misha suddenly appeared in front of me, giving me a fright.

"Hey Hicchan!" Misha exclaimed cheerfully

"Hey Misha, and Shizune" I waved at Shizune. Misha translated for her, but I think she got my message from the Wave. "What are you doing here?"

"You were taking a while to get the stuff, and we wanted to see if you were up to anything. So what were you up to?" This was like an interrogation. Maybe Kenji was right. I shuddered and quickly pushed those thoughts out of my mind

"I made it up here and got sidetracked talking to someone."

"Who was it Hicchan? Was it more important than the festival?"

"It was a girl called Ito. She took a fall in the other room and I helped her up and we were just talking. She said she used to be on the Student Council". At this, both Misha and Shizune's faces fell solemn and sad for a minute, but then came back to normal.

"Yeah, she was on the Student Council. Cute girl. Some things happened that were out of everyone's control and she asked if she could leave. That's all I'm saying, as it's not really our place to talk about it. Did you get the stuff? You were tardy, so we probably got most of it" Misha said, trying to scold me, but her grin wasn't fooling anyone. The rest of the conversation turned to the business of getting the supplies to where they needed to be.


End file.
